Nude photos posted on Facebook appear to be HS girls

Harford County authorities are investigating nude photos posted on Facebook that appear to be of girls from Edgewood High School.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Edward Hopkins said deputies were alerted by the mother of a boy who lives in the school district. The Sheriff's Office said the woman called the Harford County Child Advocacy Center to report it, and detectives investigated.

The spokesman said deputies looked at the website and saw more than a dozen pictures of young women in various stages of undress, including some fully naked.

"Some of these girls, their faces were pictured, some not. Some were nude, some scantily clad, but regardless, they were still posted and it appears they were taken of themselves. No one else was in the pictures at all," Hopkins said.

In all of the photos, the girls actually took pictures of themselves with their cellphones and those images somehow got in the wrong hands, investigators said.

"We think the girls took pictures of themselves, shared them with a friend and that person may have shared with somebody else. We do not think the girls posted the pictures of themselves," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said the page title referred to Edgewood High School but it wasn't the school's official page. Hopkins said Friday that the page was taken down shortly after police began looking into the matter Tuesday.

"While the girls were pictured naked, there did not appear to have been a crime committed, but what was disconcerting is we had no way to identify who created the site at this point in time," Hopkins said.

Since Facebook immediately took the page down, investigators are in the process of taking out subpoenas to get more information.

Hopkins said the photos contained no evidence of sexual activity or coercion, so child pornography laws may not apply.

Harford County school officials responded with concern, saying in a statement, "Cyber safety is an issue that we have been working proactively to address with local and state law enforcement and other stakeholders in the community. Unfortunately, this is an increasing trend and we will continue to work collaboratively with community partners to bring awareness of the resulting risks and consequences of this type of behavior."

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